This May 29, 2016, photo shows David Gilkey, a veteran news photographer and video editor for National Public Radio photographer, at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan. Gilkey and an Afghan translator, Zabihullah Tamanna, were killed while on assignment in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, June 5, 2016, a network spokeswoman said. (Michael M. Phillips / The Wall Street Journal via AP)

David Gilkey, an NPR photojournalist who worked as a photographer for the Daily Camera in the 1990s, was killed in a Taliban ambush in Afghanistan on Sunday along with his Afghan interpreter Zabihullah Tamanna, according to the radio network.

Gilkey and Tamanna were traveling with an Afghan army unit near Marjah in Helmand province when the convoy came under fire and their vehicle was struck, the network's spokeswoman, Isabel Lara, said in a statement. Two other NPR journalists, Tom Bowman and producer Monika Evstatieva, were traveling with them and were not hurt.

This undated photo provided by NPR shows Zabihullah Tamanna, left, and David Gilkey. Gilkey, a veteran news photographer and video editor for National Public Radio, and Tamanna, an Afghan translator, were killed while on assignment in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, June 5, 2016, a network spokeswoman said. (Monika Evstatieva / NPR via AP)

Secretary of State John Kerry called the attack that killed Gilkey and Tamanna "a grim reminder of the danger that continues to face the Afghan people, the dedication of Afghan national defense and security forces to securing their country, and of the courage of intrepid journalists — and their interpreters — who are trying to convey that important story to the rest of the world."

Gilkey had covered conflict and war in Iraq and Afghanistan since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on Washington and New York and was committed to helping the public see the wars and the people caught up in them, NPR's senior vice president of news and editorial director, Michael Oreskes, said in a statement.

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"As a man and as a photojournalist, David brought out the humanity of all those around him. He let us see the world and each other through his eyes," Oreskes said.

The White House News Photographers Association named Gilkey their Still Photographer of the Year in 2011. In 2015, he became the first multimedia journalist to receive the Edward R. Murrow Award for his coverage of international breaking news, military conflicts and natural disasters.

Twenty-seven journalists have been killed in Afghanistan since 1992, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, not counting Gilkey and Tamanna. They include Anja Niedringhaus, a photographer for The Associated Press who was shot dead in 2014 while covering the national elections for president and provincial councils. AP special correspondent for the region, Kathy Gannon, was also in the car and wounded in the attack.

Worldwide, nearly 1,200 journalists have died since 1992, according to CPJ's website.

In addition to Iraq and Afghanistan, Gilkey covered the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, the devastating earthquake that shook Haiti in 2010, the fall of apartheid in South Africa, famine in Somalia, and war in Rwanda and the Balkans.

"The things to do were amazing and the places to see were epic," Gilkey once said of his work. "But the people, the people are what made it all worth the effort."

'A photojournalist Indiana Jones'

Gilkey's first journalism job was with the Daily Camera. He later joined the Detroit Free Press around 1996, then began working for NPR in 2007.

Daily Camera photographer Cliff Grassmick said he met Gilkey in the late 1980s, when Gilkey was a photo intern, and worked with him in the 1990s at the Camera.

"He was always looking for adventure," Grassmick said. "He was a photojournalist Indiana Jones. He never wanted to settle down."

He said Gilkey was an "extremely gifted photographer."

"He did everything well — sports, features, portraits, photo stories — everything," Grassmick said. "He had a unique way of seeing the world around him and a gift for translating it in stills and video."

Steve Knopper, a feature writer at the Daily Camera in the early '90s who's now a contributing editor at Rolling Stone, said Gilkey was only in his 20s but was already "just absolutely a talent."

"When I worked with him, all I had to do was just shut up and do what he said and try to learn what he did," he said. "He was so good."

He recalled working on a story about the debate over meat, with a goal of personalizing the issue by featuring local farmers, ranchers and vegans. But it was Gilkey, he said, who truly captured their personalities.

"The photos just put this story to shame," he said. "I was not surprised to see him go on a do the work that he did. He was one of the most talented photographers that I ever worked with."

'He was as good as it gets'

Robyn Kube, who owned a condo in downtown Boulder where Gilkey lived as a tenant while working at the Camera, said he was a "phenomenal person and photographer."

She said it was clear he would make his mark through his photography.

"It has been amazing to watch him evolve into such an involved journalist," she said. "His death is truly tragic."

Neill Woelk, who worked with Gilkey as a sportswriter at the Camera, said he was a "guy who loved journalism, loved life and loved a challenge."

They covered Broncos and CU football together, Woelk said, and "he never took short cuts."

"Every assignment he shot, it was important," he said. "He was a good as it gets. He also never shied away a cold beverage after an assignment. The opportunity to work with him was a treat. We lost a really, really good journalist."

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